Cinepals - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix) 1x3 Review & Discussion!

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

This is our honest and immediate thoughts on Avatar The Last Airbender Episode 3 from the new live action adaptation by Netflix. What did they get right? What did they get wrong? Does it work? The live action show stars: • Gordon Cormier as Aang  • Kiawentiio as Katara • Ian Ousley as Sokka • Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko • Elizabeth Yu as Azula • Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Robocop, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Total Recall 2070, Ahsoka) as Uncle Iroh • Daniel Dae Kim (Hellboy, Lost, The Legend of Korra, Saints Row IV, Spider-Man 2, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Crash, 24, ER, Star Trek Enterprise, Hulk, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, Seinfeld, The Pretender, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Jackal, Walker Texas Ranger, Cradle 2 the Grave, The Divergent Series) as Fire Lord Ozai • Ken Leung (Rush Hour, The Family Man, Vanilla Sky, Saw, Inside Man, X-Men The Last Stand, Star Wars Episode VII, The Blacklist, Old, Inhumans, Joker: Folie à Deux) as Commander Zhao Join our Patreon www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay for the full length reaction to this show and many others ans subscribe to our YouTube channel for the cutdowns www.youtube.com/@cinepals   SOCIAL MEDIA ~CinePals~ Twitter & Instagram: @TheCinePals ~Jaby Koay~ Twitter & Instagram: @JabyKoay ~Achara Kirk~ Twitter & Instagram: @AcharaKirk

What kind of sound does Appa make? Something like that. I can't, I can't do it. Did you know he's voiced by an Asian dude? Really? I think so. I think that's what I saw in IMDB. Appa.

Matthew Yang King. I have no idea who this dude is. But as a guy, that's a person. That's a person. Sina. Pals. What's going on, everybody? I'm Jabby Kouye.

Joined by a Characirk. What's up? We are watching Avatar, the Last Airbender, The Live Action Adaptation by Netflix. Thanks so much for joining us again. This episode was shouldering a lot of burdens. Yes. It was taking on a lot of different episodes and just kind of cramming it all into one.

That's an interesting way to play it. I am wildly curious what someone who's never seen the cartoon feels about this. I was getting a different sense when the show kicked off. We spent a lot of time developing Aang's backstory. Yes. Before we really got into where the cartoon kicks off. And I thought that was interesting. And I was like, oh, maybe this is going to breathe.

And quickly, I realized I was wrong. Well, yeah, I mean, the original show had so many more episodes, granted that they, they were shorter episodes. Sorry. You just seem like, maybe you want to go one more time? It's not going to help. All right, try again. The original show, it's, guys, I'm sorry. The original show had so many more episodes, even though they were shorter.

Yeah. I'm trying to take you seriously. I'm sorry, go ahead. Of course it's going to get smushed together and truncated because there's only, a certain amount of episodes. We can't really expect it to be exactly the same. No, no, no, no. I don't have that expectation.

They might be weaving it together in a way that once I get through the entire show, I'll be like, okay, that worked. So I can't pass too much judgment just yet. This is like all kind of premature and play by play, right? I kind of have to look at it like a big movie as opposed to episodically. The casting for Jet, I thought, works. I liked it. I mean, at least looks wise, he was great.

yeah for me and like he he had the the charm or the Riz as the kids say yeah for for being that character I'm sorry I'm so I'm trying so hard to just take it seriously but I'm committed I want to watch the show maybe try blowing your nose again it always hits you harder than it hits me for some reason it's so interesting I feel fine I just I just sound funny you just sound goofy I just sound goofy yeah what was I saying about that it's hard to concentrate I'm trying so hard to be be respectful and concentrate on what you're saying. And it's like, g-wring-n-g-g-g-g-g-h-h.

Oh, you like the casting of Jay. You thought he was really good. Yeah, I thought he was, I thought he was good. He had the, he had the Riz, he had the charm. He's, he's handsome. You understand why Katara falls for him, like, obviously, because she's not been around a lot of cute boys. So he shows her some attention.

He's all, like, cool in that. And it's like, yeah, I get it. I get it, girl. That's why, that's why you like him. And plus, like, He seems to be, you know, working for a cause that you can get behind and all of that. And, yeah, and just the look. As soon as his hair, we were like, that's got to be jet.

And I kind of suspected that it was him already when they were in the cart. I was too, but I was like, that's not right. But I was like, this is too soon. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's just, well, it's just not there. Yeah. Yeah, I worked out. I'm like, well, what was he doing?

I'm so curious. Like, where was it coming from? Maybe who's collecting the jelly? stuff yeah love that they brought the cabbage guy yeah they did it in a different way which works it was so funny about the show i guess it's more childish and the immature side of me but he kept saying it like it kept coming back yeah my cabbages just like in random points and episodes the way they did that that world you know looked really good i thought that was cool yeah when you're looking at it from the that huge scale like the grand scope of it yeah it looks really really nice

but when they were actually in the market it started to look like a set to me. Yeah. They really spent a lot of their money on the VFX, right? Like, uh, the animals are looking great. Upper and Momo look fantastic. And like you said, when you look at the cities, like you see Omashu, it looks so cool from the bird's eye perspective and you've got all of the stuff. Once you're kind of on the ground, it is like, oh, this feels like a soundstage. Yeah. Yeah. How do you feel about guitarist over? I think I do how, what you're saying. Like, she's all right. I got Saka. I'm like,

well, you tease, now it's a cock tease. Because you can, you demonstrated that you can get an actor to do a nice split between the, the grounded tonality of what you're aiming for here and the cartoon. And now, I mean, Saka,

the actor, he's just awesome. He understood the assignment. Yeah. He got the memo and was like, I got it. Don't worry. Everything he does,

I'm like, yes, that's like perfect. That feels like a nice. translation into live action of whatever that character was from the cartoon like with the thing he's like wow that's really cool the guy's like yeah that's from my toes and they go like it's not as big as the cartoon you know cartoons allow you to go much bigger and more heightened and so he's doing something that is more i guess human right it's just a nice balance between whatever grounded is supposed to look like and the cartoon yeah and with her i'm like yo like something i think it's

just not good casting. Or like just a little bit more energy. There's a certain authoritativeness to, to Katara's voice that's just lacking here. Katara, while she's not the leader, she has more of an authoritative tone and quality to her, you know, the way she's able to yell at Saka, the way she's able to take charge of things. Yeah, she kind of, if I were to say, you know, like what type of archetype, she embodies, I would say she embodies quite a fair bit of the mother. Yes. You know, like she is that person who takes care of the gang and who tells you when you're doing something wrong.

Yeah. And she'll, like, scold you, but she'll also love you. The actress playing guitar is not bad. I don't know. She has a lovely sense of, like, vulnerability and empathy, which I think is probably one of the reasons why she was cast. Because, you know, she kind of has that softness about her. In addition to, like, that inherent strength

that Katara possesses, she also has that kind of like loving empathy and compassion. She cares about people a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. When I was watching the scene at the fire, when Jet puts the coat around her or whatever, the scarf.

I'm like, I'm getting out of bored. That's not quite my tempo. Not quite his tempo. It's just not. It's like, there's something not working for me about her. And maybe on a rewatch, I'd be like, because I'm, acclimated, I'll be like, okay, it's working now.

I'm wondering as well, her, uh, water bending, like, her movements kind of becoming more crisper. Whatever she's doing, I'm like, I just, I just want more like energy in whatever you're doing. Just give me some, some more in like your fingers or like your body. Like, it just feels like she's, that's the note I have across the, yeah, with everything she does. Yeah.

Like when, when she was finally like getting angry at Saka and. that little workshop. They were arguing about jet. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, so you, you can raise your volume a little bit. Like, you're capable of doing that. I have mixed feelings about Azula. This, I will admit that this is me struggling to get away from the cartoon.

Because I just remember my association with Azula and my feeling about her in the cartoon. Yeah, like, I love Azula. She is that, like, crazy bee that you're like, you're like, you are unhinged but like in the best possible way and like that's what I want to see from this Azula like you said you know when she was watching that guy

getting burnt it's like yeah yeah you can see that you're a bit of a sadist and like I like that and I think it's also interesting that they decided to reveal Azula so soon I don't mind that but sure go ahead I'm listening just because like she was a fun surprise

to kind of have come a little bit later on, you know, to be like, oh, Zuko, you thought Zuko was bad? Oh, wait until you see his sister. She is absolutely batch it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, his family is cray cray. Maybe she's perfect casting because over the, like I said, it's like over the course of the show, maybe all, like, all the pieces will come together. And I'm like, this will make so much more sense. It's still fairly early on. Yeah. You know, they're just introducing the characters to us. Correct. So there will be time for them to, to grow on. us. But I agree with you in terms of what I want from Azulah. There are certain notes she needs to hit, you know, as that character. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm waiting with anticipation to see if

it'll happen. But Fire Lord Ozai is great casting to me. Daniel Day Kim. Yeah. He really understands how that character behaves. Even if you don't factor in the cartoon, he feels like this intimidating character. Yeah, he's very regal and he's doing that thing of like using stillness to his advantage really well. Like he's not wild with his movement. Everything is very precise and calculated and he kind of glides into the room. I look forward to seeing more of him.

He's got a great presence to him. And obviously he's a really good actor and he's been one of the most frequently working Asian actors in Hollywood. I'm enjoying it for what it is. It's not going to come anywhere near the level of Jeunessequa. Yeah, the Jeune Secoix of the Cartier

of the cartoon. It's not ever going to come near it. It's just a fun thing to replace what we got from M. Night Shyamalan, you know, as a do-over. It's miles above that. I didn't even bother with the M. Night Shyamla-la-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-bom. You never saw it? Never. It'll make you appreciate this more.

This is much better. I have to commend the effort, you know, especially taking that into consideration. I have to commend the painstaking efforts they've done here to be as inclusive. as possible with regards to the material because like you said they cannot include everything they're doing their best to include as much as they can while telling a cohesive and compelling story yeah it's a tall order it's very difficult it doesn't change my feelings that I've expressed but I do respect what they have done um and I think that you know it's much better than what we got before so anyways uh you guys thanks so much for hanging with us uh let us know your feelings in the comments below

And that's it for now. I'm Jabby Koi. This is. Achara Cook. Peace out.